Telephone advice nursing: parents' experiences of monitoring calls in children with gastroenteritis

A common reason for calling a telephone advice nurse is gastroenteritis symptoms in children. A monitoring call is a follow-up call from the telephone nurse to the care seeker in order to follow up on given advice and make a new assessment. The aim of the study was to describe the parents' experiences of monitoring calls in telephone advice nursing in children with gastroenteritis. A qualitative interview method was chosen and data were analysed inductively with a qualitative latent content analysis. Ten parents, nine mothers and one father were interviewed. Four main categories and 13 subcategories were identified and described as useful, and the main categories were convenience - parents found it convenient to get access to self-care advice at home, confirmation - the interaction between the telephone nurse and the parent seemed to become deeper and closer as a result of the monitoring call, support - in a vulnerable situation receiving further information and an opportunity to let the telephone nurse monitor the sick child and guidance - to be guided through the most acute phase in the child's gastroenteritis symptoms. Monitoring calls seemed to be experienced as a security enhancing, positive opportunity and a robust complement to seeking care at a healthcare facility. The results of the study indicate how inhabitants can receive expert advice, support and guidance for care and provide a useful basis for Swedish Healthcare Direct (SHD) to develop the modalities for monitoring calls.